A United States District Court judge has ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to disclose documents related to a criminal investigation concerning Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and alleged drug trafficking.
Judge Beryl Howell of the District Court of Columbia, in an April 8th ruling, directed the agencies to search and process non-exempt records pertaining to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted by American researcher Aaron Greenspan.
Greenspan had filed 12 FOIA requests between 2022 and 2023, seeking information related to a Chicago-based drug ring active in the early 1990s, and specifically, records concerning Bola Tinubu, Lee Andrew Edwards, Mueez Abegboyega Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
Initially, both the FBI and DEA responded with “Glomar responses,” indicating that they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records. However, the court has now determined that these responses were inappropriate in this case, and has mandated that the agencies proceed with a search and release of relevant, non-exempt information.
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The court’s judgment stated: “The FBI and DEA have both officially confirmed investigations of Tinubu relating to the drug trafficking ring. Any privacy interests implicated by the FOIA requests to the FBI and DEA for records about Tinubu are overcome by the public interest in the release of such information. Since the FBI and DEA have provided no information to establish that a cognizable privacy interest exists in keeping secret the fact that Tinubu was a subject of criminal investigation. They have failed to meet their burden to sustain their Glomar responses and provide an additional reason why these responses must be lifted.”
While upholding the CIA’s Glomar response, the judge ruled, “Plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment as to each of the four Glomar responses asserted by defendants FBI and DEA, while defendant CIA is entitled to summary judgment, since its Glomar response was properly asserted. Accordingly, the FBI and DEA must search for and process non-exempt records responsive to the FOIA requests directed to these agencies. The CIA, meanwhile, is entitled to judgment in its favour in this case. The remaining parties are directed to file jointly, by May 2, 2025, a report on the status of any outstanding issues in this case, as described in the accompanying order.”
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